Ambulance
picks up speed

Music Row
By Brian Rademaekers

Ambulance Ltd. is a band that gets pop music.
And, luckily, they aren’t afraid or too pretentious to have fun with that knowledge. That’s good news for fans of fuzzy, swirling guitars, washed-out beats, effortlessly smooth vocals and songs that evoke a shamelessly simple beauty.
The music of Ambulance LTD is just that — lovely and attractive songs, woven impeccably with the contributions of several decades of similar music to chose from.
The band’s music is also in many ways akin to a splendid excursion through excellent guitar rock bands from 1980 and onward.
Take, for example, some of their more recent and officially released work.
The title track from their 2006 album, New English, opens with a jaunty Meat Puppets riff as lead man Marcus Congleton launches into vocals somewhere between Wilco and Built to Spill.
Ambulance LTD also can stray into the kind of airy lyricism of the Beatles while juggling a weighty vein of despair wrought by Elliot Smith, making them a band as varied in their influences as they are pleasant to listen to.
The biggest downside to being a fan of Ambulance LTD, however, is that the band hasn’t exactly been prolific during its five-year existence.
The Brooklyn-based rockers came on the scene in 2003 with a self-titled EP. The release still lays claim to one of their finest recordings to date: Primitive (The Way I Treat You).
With its cool and harsh refrain, "Relax, don’t think about the way I treat you," and driving guitar riff, the song put Ambulance LTD on the map as a group with a dark, edgy side. It also put them at odds with the rock landscape of the time.
The next year, Ambulance LTD followed the short-play with a full-length record that brought more praise and (more important) more good rock to hungry fans.
That album brought out gems like Anecdote, which showed that Ambulance could have a really sparkling aura hovering about to balance their sometimes down-and-out songs.
It wasn’t long before the New York five-piece was touring nationally and earned a slot on 2005’s Lollapalooza tour.
Despite the loss of their keyboardist, Ambulance continued its success and released the seven-track New English in 2006. Songs like Country Gentleman showed again that the band could master a delicate balance between easy-rolling lightheartedness and superb songwriting that put quality ahead of contrived complexity.
But since then, there sadly has been nary a single dropped by these boys.
There is not much talk about what went on during the off time. What matters, though, is that Ambulance is back, they’re touring, and there is (likely) to be more music in the coming months.
The band kicked off a tour in Boston at the start of the month and they’re due at the North Star on Saturday.
For its new set of shows, Ambulance is promising a mix of songs old and new — a pleasant treat for those looking to jump into the spring with some fresh jams.
Some online releases hint at good things, too.
Their Upsetter is a joyously rocking number oozing with heavy doses of Marc Bolan-T-Rex guitar goodness, as well as plenty doo-wop nonsense babble to carry it along.
On Ladyfingers, a funky backbeat and wavering vocals that seem to drift in from the back of an auditorium build into a massively cool song with more ’70s rock intonations and maybe even a touch of disco craziness.
The band’s stellar, if limited, library of uniquely awesome songs makes the Philly show on Saturday a good bet. Openers include New Hampshire’s Wild Light, a pop-heavy four-piece with lush instrumentals, and Brooklyn’s Bear Hands. ••

Check it out . . .
Who: Ambulance LTD
What: New music from the guys who brought back guitar rock goodness earlier in the decade.
Where: The North Star bar, 27th and Poplar streets, Fairmount
When: Saturday, April 5, at 9 p.m. Tickets are $12.